Poor turnout for dressage

[applecart14]

Yet again (and strangely exactly the same as the competition a few weeks ago) I am one of three entries in my first dressage class and the only one in my second class, both of which are novice tests.

What the h**l is going on? Does no one want to compete anymore. What is the point of paying £27.50 to do two dressage tests if you are going to win one of them and come either first second or third in the other test.

Not exactly much of a thrill when you do well is it.

So dissapointing. Seriously thinking about doing affiliated dressage. But not going to spend over £150 to join if I'm still in the same situation when I affiliate!

 

[AbFab]

Entries are pretty good around here, although they usually seem to drop in the winter. There were about 15 in Fairy's first intro class last weekend and around the same amount in both the 2 prelims.

 

[Lolo]

Maybe the issue is paying £27.50 to do two unaff. tests? I thought £10 a test was getting steep!

 

[Polotash]

It's the run up to Christmas and the lack of prep time due to the weather I think. I'm trying to organise clinics at the moment; the first one got cancelled due to our weekend of floods, rain and wind, and the second (next week) I've had to cancel as only me and one other wanted to do anything that close to Christmas - arg!

You still get small classes at Aff btw, depending on where you are. There are usually only 1 or 2 in my ele/ med classes.

 

[Jenni_]

was about 7 in my novice class at the weekend, and about 12 in my prelim - and that was after tonnes of folk pulled out!

 

[rowy]

At least with dressage it's less about placings and more about percentage and scores. I go out competing against myself to try and improve scores each week and if I get a good placing then its a bonus
Around here there are often loads in the intro and prelims and then only a few in the novices and even less in Elems at unaff level.

Not many people have much incentive to compete at unaff over the winter. You get more people at BD because of collecting points.
I thought it cost £120 to join bd??

 

[star]

Where are you? there were 32 entered in my prelim on Sunday and 23 last night for evening dressage. No prob with entries round here!

 

[rara007]

No problems round here either- usually around 20 entries

 

[humblepie]

Don't do much dressaging but very low turnout last time we went out but weather was pretty horrid.

Personally don't mind as over and done with quicker and far more chance of a rosette (no sorry that is not important, it is how well the horse goes, of course it is).

Round by us is £10 a time so two classes £20 which is quite a bit when there is no prize money even if 20 or so in the class. I look on it as a good way of schooling off site as much as anything and then it works out cheap.

 

[Gamebird]

I thought this was going to be another thread about people who hadn't plaited!

 

[christine48]

Maybe it's that time of year, the weather & dark nights make it difficult to work horses properly so maybe a lot give horses a rest. However last time we went to Vale View unaffiliated there were more entries than at the affiliated show.

 

[JenTaz]

Intro tests seem to be more popular where I am at the moment (Aberystwyth) last month there were about 15 in the into, about 10 in both prelims and then not very many in the novice and elementarys, thankfully we only pay £8 a class

 

[Santa_Claus]

my local never gets big entries (6-10 for prelim 1-6 novice) but it is £12 a class and not 'hugely' advertised and often clashes with a not too far away large EC. I compete there as the placing/percentage doesn't overly worry me as use it as match practice, its 10 mins down the road (so lack of diesel costs and convenience easily counteract entry fees) and has good surfaces so I can't go far wrong, and hey even when I feel like I rode the worst test in the world due to horse acting like a 4yo (as i did a week or so ago) I still got 2nd place (from 6 ) and a rossie always make you feel better after what felt to be a horrid test haha

 

[ester]

There has been some cancelled in somerset (where the horse is!) of late due to lack of entries, but I think that is partly because there is actually a lot on currently in small area. You could go out every week easily.

 

[applecart14]

Maybe the issue is paying £27.50 to do two unaff. tests? I thought £10 a test was getting steep!

You could be right! Its because I left it to the last minute and therefore had to pay £11.00 per class plus a booking fee for paying on line. My fault.

But show centres entry fees vary so much, its such a nightmare!

 

[applecart14]

I thought it cost £120 to join bd??

It probably does. But my horse is an important aged 7 so automatically gets 260BD points slapped on him unless I travel him to, and pay £75 for an assessor to look at me ride him and then basically get him/her to write to BD to say yes the horse should be going in at such and such a level. If you ride rubbish deliberately then they jump on and ride! They are usually well done riders in the field of dressage, people like Spencer Wilton, etc.

Otherwise I would be going in at advanced medium and that is soooo wrong on sooo many levels for us

Bit of a con really as the assessor who looked at my friends horse watched her ride and said "this horse will be at least novice but most probably elementary level". My friends mum said "no, that's not right, my daughter's only done one or two walk and trot tests so far on her" and the assessor said, "ok I will give her one BD point".

I am currently competing at unaff Novice level and have done about 15 -20 elementary's on him over the years and been placed approx 75/80% of the time so not done too badly.

 

[Vickijay]

It must be your area as I rang a local EC to see about taking a green 4yo to Monday dressage (at £20 per test!) and with 10 days to go there were already over 30 in the prelim.

 

[shadowboy]

Last month I went out 3 in the intro class and there were 20 in the prelim and 9 in the novice. Those numbers are fairly typical for the various venues round here but entries are usually about 10 to 12 pounds a class so maybe people thought £27.50 was a lot on the run up to Christmas?

 

[comet!]

I think it's probably the poor weather forecast too. I went to one venue two weeks ago and there was about 20 in each prelim (mid-week). Entered for this week (didn't get there though due to lorry) and I was the only one in one of the prelims! A bit disappointing too as entries work out £32 for two classes!

 

[Sussexbythesea]

Maybe the issue is paying £27.50 to do two unaff. tests? I thought £10 a test was getting steep!

I'm always amazed at people thinking and entry fee of over £10 is expensive

I run regular unaffiliated RC dressage and it costs us £300 to hire the venue inc. parking warm-up, clear-round and indoor test arena. Rosettes are around £50 for lovely 3 tier 1st - 6th in up to 5 classes, we also provide a token 1st prize e.g. horse treats £10-15 total then we have to pay judges expenses (we use listed judges) plus gift e.g. bottle of wine that range from £25 -80 fuel depending on how far they come from and whether we have to get more than one if we have more than 40 entries. From the 1st December judges also are supposed to get paid per entry so that would range from £35-£50 a day on top of fuel so we are going to have to add a £1 fee for that. Test sheets are about 25p a sheet.

So really we need to clear £500 before making any money at all. Scorers, writers, organisers, stewards are all club volunteers and do it for nothing and get tea, coffee and lunch but that is it. No expenses. Any money made either offsets bad days or goes into subsidising training, our dressage league and running the club.

We always get loads of people trying to enter after the closing date but for a start if we have high entries we have to get a second judge and if we don't get enough entries we have to think about cancelling or running a half day - we have to do this 7 days in advance otherwise we are still charged for the venue hire. So there is a penalty for late entry or we just have to say no. We always get reasonable entries in Intro, good entries at Prelim, but it always declines at Novice / Ele level so sometimes we combine those classes.

I’m certainly not getting rich on running these events nor is our club.

 

[Lolo]

I'm always amazed at people thinking and entry fee of over £10 is expensive

I run regular unaffiliated RC dressage and it costs us £300 to hire the venue inc. parking warm-up, clear-round and indoor test arena. Rosettes are around £50 for lovely 3 tier 1st - 6th in up to 5 classes, we also provide a token 1st prize e.g. horse treats £10-15 total then we have to pay judges expenses (we use listed judges) plus gift e.g. bottle of wine that range from £25 -80 fuel depending on how far they come from and whether we have to get more than one if we have more than 40 entries. From the 1st December judges also are supposed to get paid per entry so that would range from £35-£50 a day on top of fuel so we are going to have to add a £1 fee for that. Test sheets are about 25p a sheet.

So really we need to clear £500 before making any money at all. Scorers, writers, organisers, stewards are all club volunteers and do it for nothing and get tea, coffee and lunch but that is it. No expenses. Any money made either offsets bad days or goes into subsidising training, our dressage league and running the club.

We always get loads of people trying to enter after the closing date but for a start if we have high entries we have to get a second judge and if we don't get enough entries we have to think about cancelling or running a half day - we have to do this 7 days in advance otherwise we are still charged for the venue hire. So there is a penalty for late entry or we just have to say no. We always get reasonable entries in Intro, good entries at Prelim, but it always declines at Novice / Ele level so sometimes we combine those classes.

I’m certainly not getting rich on running these events nor is our club.

Well, my voice comes from watching my mum run monthly RC events for the past 7 years.

The judges are either listed, or well-respected in the area (and used for events such as PC areas, BE90/100, etc), there are up to 3 arenas running and it's at a well-known equestrian centre. If you're a member, the entry fee is £6.50... Every how has run in profit. That's why I think nearly £30 is expensive- I could do 4 tests and buy a photo with that!

 

[PapaFrita]

I thought this was going to be another thread about people who hadn't plaited!

Haha, me too!

For some people few entries is a dream come true. Guaranteed place!
Not what rocks my boat, but hey ho...

 

[Sussexbythesea]

Well, my voice comes from watching my mum run monthly RC events for the past 7 years.

The judges are either listed, or well-respected in the area (and used for events such as PC areas, BE90/100, etc), there are up to 3 arenas running and it's at a well-known equestrian centre. If you're a member, the entry fee is £6.50... Every how has run in profit. That's why I think nearly £30 is expensive- I could do 4 tests and buy a photo with that!

I don't know where you live - maybe it's cheaper where you are or maybe you don't have to pay so much for the venue. If the EC runs it's own events then it will make the £300 we have to pay to hire one - but I bet if they took into account initial costs of building and ongoing maintenance over the long term it would probably make little profit.

All I'm saying is you can't just assume more than £10 is expensive. Our other local dressage venue charges £400 a day. If we had any other suitable cheaper venues we would use them but we don't. £12 -15 is pretty standard around here.

 

[JustMe22]

Should come here! We had 40 in the prelim unaff, and not that far off that in the novice either.

Affiliated had 18 in my elem and nearly 30 in the novice I think too!

Also thought it'd be a moan thread about plaiting

 

[china]

It all works out so expensive these days. I did BD last weekend, it was £38 for two classes and then £20 in fuel! That's for one day! And we take our own lunch so we don't have to spend money on food! I'm looking at the classes for next Saturday. It's going to cost me £30 for two classes and £10 in fuel, so since the first of December I will have spent nearly £100 on two BD competitions!!

 

[SpruceRI]

I don't know where you live - maybe it's cheaper where you are or maybe you don't have to pay so much for the venue. If the EC runs it's own events then it will make the £300 we have to pay to hire one - but I bet if they took into account initial costs of building and ongoing maintenance over the long term it would probably make little profit.

All I'm saying is you can't just assume more than £10 is expensive. Our other local dressage venue charges £400 a day. If we had any other suitable cheaper venues we would use them but we don't. £12 -15 is pretty standard around here.

No matter how much it costs organisers to run events, if people can't afford to pay the entry or think it's too pricey they won't come and that's it.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

No matter how much it costs organisers to run events, if people can't afford to pay the entry or think it's too pricey they won't come and that's it.

Well then they won't get run and that's it.

Everyone a winner!

 

[noname]

£10 per class is average around me. (Midlands) but I have membership at one centre so less. Sussexonthesea. How often do you run competitons? Your rosette costs sound high. We're not paying that for really nice rosettes but have a series of shows and get discounts. Also have a friend that has a rosette company and does really beautiful ones!
Our riding club shows that we hire a venue for (indoors) are always making profit and we charge £10 per class, £9 for members. We have a championship at the end with massive rosettes and give rugs, bandages, saddlepads etc to placings! We've always made money and spent this on jumps and clinic subsidies for members!

 

[Batgirl]

Are you going to an unpopular venue, is there another one near by you can try?

We average from 10-30 a class from Intro to Novice and 5-10 for elementary. Meds are a different ball game. We charge £12-£15 per class unaff and £16.50-£20.50 for affiliated and are usually full.

But then again we are all lovely and it is a well known venue so odds in our favour

 

[Bigbenji]

So how did you do OP?